How we get our image of God .......... Parables 627

January 26, 1999

A talk show hostess interviewed a black woman who fought illness, poverty and racial tension. She became a successful business woman and mother. Her family, part of the studio audience, rose to bless her. One son said something like, “Mother, thank you for allowing me to stay in your body and be born, for raising your family and sticking it out for us.”

Most of us know that God tells us to honor our father and mother. What we do not realize is how much our children depend on us for their concept of God. That is, if they see us as loving and wise, they think God is loving and wise also.

However, children whose parents are thoughtless, selfish or abusive have a difficult time imagining God as someone who could possibly care for them. To them, the word ‘father’ can have unpleasant connotations. When they hear it they feel, at the least, disappointment and are often angry and fearful, emotions that carry over to their concept of a heavenly Father.

The father image that God choose to use in His revelation of Himself was never intended to be a bad image. God created marriage and the family unit. His design included loving parents who give their best effort to raise children who love, obey and respect them.

Occasionally, we meet a family that seems close to this ideal. I think of the Pattisons, a couple whose lives recently ended in a car accident. Married 63 years, they had sons and daughters who honored and respected them because this couple loved and nurtured their children.

Yet for many, the image of father and family is deeply marred, not because poor parenting is God’s pattern but because human nature, in general, has also been marred. Even the Pattisons were not perfect yet many more families fall far beneath their standard.

In a marred family, parents resent their children. Children curse their parents. Sometimes, headlines tell of tragic situations in which parent or child goes so far as to injure or even kill others in their family. How can this be?

God made man and woman in His image. That is, we have characteristics that are like God and that reflect His nature. These characteristics appear whenever we selflessly give time and effort toward raising our children. They also appear when our children honor and obey us.

Yet the nature of God in us is marred by sin. Who is perfectly like Him? The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one . . . . All have fallen short of the glory of God.”

To get back on track, we need our sin and imperfections forgiven by God and cleansed from our lives. The Pattisons experienced that, even before they were wed. For most of their lives, they honored God in their personal life and in their home and community. God blessed them in return. Their children love and serve God and are wise and loving parents themselves.

The lady on the television show also honored God. She said that she owed all the good that was happening in her life to Him. Proverbs 31 says, “A woman that fears the LORD, she shall be praised” and that “Her children arise up, and call her blessed.” What a joy it must have been for her to have her son rise up on national television and bless her.

These and others like them are examples of how to be a great parent. They clearly show that when we obey God, we are not only living up to His intention in our creation but making a difference in the lives of our children.